Player welfare is Klopp’s priority
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp will make player welfare top priority heading into the Champions League dead rubber at home to Porto but says he will select a side which respects the competition.
Victory last time out against Atletico Madrid means Klopp’s side qualified for the last 16 with two matches to spare.
With at least eight players already injured or doubtful for the match, the Reds boss knows he has to manage his options with 12 games in 40 days.
He has been punished before as last December he played Diogo Jota in a match against Midtjylland which had nothing riding on it and lost the forward for three months a decision he “hated” but would not do differently.
“We always respect the competition but we have to think about ourselves and our schedule and the situation of our players first,” he said.
“In this time of the season, the medical department has a big hand in line-ups.
“It’s really easy to sit there, all the people who judge us, and say ‘leave him out, leave him out, leave him out’.
“If we leave them all out and play with a team that is not a Champions League team - we don’t have enough players for that, by the way - then nobody can get injured.
“We have to line up a team who has a chance to win a football game. The Diogo situation was very unlucky. I hated it, that I made the decision.
“But would I have made the decision the same again? That’s the only question I have to answer. Yes, I would have again, because you need stability.
“We can’t play games with this line-up, then next a game line-up which has no chance to win a game, then bring them back again.
“Players need rhythm, all these kinds of things. Do I make the decision because I don’t care who gets injured in the line-up tomorrow?
“No, I can’t and I will not. These things happen in football. Hopefully nothing happens tomorrow.”
Captain Jordan Henderson was only fit enough for a substitute’s role against Arsenal on Saturday, a match left-back Andy Robertson missed after he sustained an injury on Scotland duty.